Adding all your accounts is often the first step when starting off with Monarch. Adding all your accounts will allow you to track your net worth and once you have your bank accounts and credit cards connected you can start tracking your cash flow or set up a budget.
There are two ways to add an account
1. Connect them so they receive automatic updates - this will require you to enter the user name and password that you use to sign into the website for your bank, credit card or financial company. It's secure and private and the preferred way we recommend adding an account since new transactions and account balance changes are tracked automatically for you.
2. Define them as manual accounts - this does not require a user name or password but you will have to maintain all the information yourself. Every balance change and transaction must be entered by hand since no updates will be done automatically. Sometimes this is the only option if your bank or credit card doesn't offer an automatic connection. You can slightly automate this by uploading a CSV file every month to a manual account.
Steps to add an account
To add an account click the "add account" button on the web app or the "+" icon in the mobile app. Both can be found in the top right of the accounts section:
Next, you will see a search box to look for your financial institution. There are over 10,000 institutions with connections available in Monarch.
Click here to learn how to choose the data provider for your account.
If you can't find your institution or wish to make a manual account there is an option at the bottom to "add a manual account":
If you run into any error messages or problems connecting your account check out the known issue page to see if it's something we're working to fix already. Also, don't be shy about emailing our support team since they can often help if you run into issues with account connections.
A few notes on other types of accounts you may wish to connect:
- Real estate also has a unique setup where you can track the market price of your home or property using Zillow. The value Zillow uses is an algorithm called "Zestimate" and is based on similar homes bought and sold recently in your area. If you don't wish to use Zillow you can create a manual account for your home to add it's value to your net worth.
- Manual investment holdings are almost like a hybrid of manual and connected accounts. The account itself is manual so it doesn't require your investment website username/password. But the holdings (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, crypto, etc.) have their prices updated dynamically which means the balance of the account and the value of any investments is updated automatically.
If you do wish to create a manual account here is some information on how to track balances and transactions manually.